The New York restaurant MoMa PS1 pulled horse meat from its menu last year after a stampede of protests.

FooBooz reported French Canadian horse-meat lover, restaurant co-owner and chef Hugue said he gets “tired of beef-chicken-pork all the time and we assume diners do, too.”

“Whatever else horses are – draft animals, companions, transport – their meat is also delicious and affordable,” he said. “… Nevertheless, scandalizing animal lovers is not what we want to be famous for. It was certainly not our intent to insult American culture.”

FooBooz said the USDA did not return multiple calls seeking comment on its article.

The controversy in the U.S. over horsemeat comes as a scandal rocks Europe. It began when tests in Ireland revealed some products contained horsemeat instead of beef. Since then, consumers have been shocked to learn horsemeat has been found in products sold across Europe. British supermarkets have pulled more than 10 million burgers from shelves.

France and Germany want mandatory labeling of the origin of all meat used in processed food in all 27 countries of the European Union. EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said the EU is speeding up work on potential labeling changes.

But French Consumer Minister Benoit Hamon said that will not be easy.

“There is resistance,” he said. “Some countries are not keen at all to see the origin of meat appear – some countries like Nordic countries – so we will have to build a compromise.”